SDFF Co-Director Jane Winslow sits down with writer/director Susan Sandler and comedian/film collaborator Julia Scotti to talk about Julia Scotti: Funny That Way. This intimate, funny and deeply human film tells a story of becoming that resonates beyond Julia’s personal story of gender transition. In the interview, Sandler and Scotti discuss the dynamics of their documentary endeavor as a six-year journey, and cover everything from Julia’s leap of faith in revealing so much of herself for the project, to the public-private tension that is the story’s “spine,” to both women’s “willingness to say yes to truth, no matter where it takes us.” They also cover the craft of documentary, the relationship between documentary form and storytelling, and how Scotti’s story moved Sandler to move from fiction writing to documentary filmmaking.
Sandler and Scotti’s interview is one of a handful of video exclusives made available as part of SDFF 2021 and will be up online year-round. Julia Scotti: Funny That Way streamed as part of SDFF 2021 from June 10-13.
Julia Scotti: Funny That Way was also included on OUTwatch’s recent list of the Top 30 LGBTQIA documentaries. That list also includes SDFF 2021 films: A Sexplanation,Girlsboysmix and Kapaemahu. You can catch a panel discussion of that list by SDFF Co-Director Jane Winslow and OUTwatch Producer Gary Carnivele right now.